Four-time Grammy-nominated and controversial reggae star Buju Banton is scheduled to make his first appearance Thursday in a Tampa courtroom, where he faces federal drug charges. Banton, 36, whose real name is Mark Anthony Myrie, is accused along with two others of trying to buy more than five kilograms of cocaine with intent to distribute in early December from an undercover law-enforcement officer in Sarasota. Banton was arrested at his home in Tamarac on Dec. 10, and had been in federal lockup in Miami until early Tuesday morning when he was transferred to Tampa.

The federal drug conspiracy charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Banton's label, Gargamel Music Inc., has retained well-regarded Miami
criminal defense attorney David Oscar Markus, who tells ABC News the singer is
innocent and was set up by "some evil people
trying to take advantage of his trusting and honest character."

LGBT activists have called attention
to Banton's "trusting and honest" lyrics, which incite violence and call for
attacking, torturing and killing gays. His song "Boom Bye Bye", a
dancehall anthem released in the 1990s, calls for shooting gays in the
head and setting them on fire. In recent years, the singer's North American and European tour dates have routinely met with protests, demonstrations and cancellations. In October, San Francisco-based LGBT activists met with Banton and afterwards the reggae singer's anti-gay rhetoric appeared even more hardened: "This is a fight, and as I said in one of my songs, 'There is no end to the war between me and faggot'."

I want to hear his lawyer explain in court how the gays made him call a 'drug dealer', leave his home and I'm assuming, obtain the cash (drug dealers don't take charge) to buy 5 Kilos of coke from an undercover officer. A grand gay conspiracy indeed, from the police to the bank teller. Yes, people in Jamaica will believe this nonsense. Homophobia scrambles the brain like that.